Building wall construction



Dec. 16, 1958 A. IMBROGNO ET AL BUILDING WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed May 18.1954 INVENTOR.

EfiTHONY Jimzeaqwafk "hie tates EUIILDING WALL CONSTRUCTION Anthonylimbroguo and Anthony J. Imbrogno, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.

This invention relates to a building construction, and, moreparticularly, to an economical building wall construction.

An outstanding disadvantage of conventional building wall constructionsis that the wood framing construction requires a considerable number ofoverall length of 2" x 4" pieces to provide sufficient vertical studdingto adequately support floor joists to sustain normal floor loading. Astill further disadvantage of the use of vertical studding is thatlateral air circulation between the inner and outer walls ispreventedalso vertical circulation is prevented by horizontal studs atthe various floor levels. This, we found, is a disadvantage from thestand point of insulating against outside heat during the summer andagainst outside cold during the winter. Another disadvantage ofconventional constructions is that they are expensive to assemble andrequire unduly long periods of time to erect.

An object of our invention is to provide a novel wallconstruction forbuildings, such as dwellings, apartments, factories, and the like,wherein vertical studding iseliminated altogether, and instead onlyhorizontal studding is provided to allow free lateral circulation of theair throughout the entire perimeter of the walls, and wherein spacerelements are provided between the horizontal studding and outer walls toenable also vertical circulation of air throughout the entire height ofthe walls.

Another object of our invention is to provide a building wallconstruction wherein the outer wall is made up of reinforced concreteand provided with ledges to support floor joists and thus eliminate thenecessity of building an excessively strong wood frame constructionwithout sacrificing over-all strength.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent froma study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawingwherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical cross sectional view of a wall constructionembodying the principles of our invention, the rafter, floor joists andfoundation being shown broken away;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line IlII of Figure1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational View of the inner wall before thelath and plaster are applied; and

Figure 4 is avertical cross sectional view showing, schematically, howthe inner wall space may be connected to an air conditioning system.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 and 2, numeral 1 denotes afoundation wall which, for example, may be blocks, having a mortarcoating 1a on top thereof on which is erected a vertical concrete wall2. Wall 2 preferably has a central wire mesh 2b, for instance a No. 5mesh wire, throughout the entire medial plane of the wall. The wall 2could be poured as a single integral unit by building forms (not shown).However, we prefer to build a wall from prefabricated slabs such asshown more clearly in Figure 2. These slabs may be fabricated either atthe factory or at the atent 72,864,251 Patented Dec. 16, 1858 icebuilding site such as by pouring concrete on the subfiooring betweenvertically extending forms for forming rectangular units. The metal lathof adjoining parts are preferably overlapped. The concrete may be a1:224 mixture. Window and door frames are preferably placed and securedbefore the slab is poured to form an airtight and water-tight joint withthe concrete.

The reinforced concrete wall 2 is provided with integral ledges 2a atthe second floor level which serve. to support the second fioor joists4, the first floor joists 3 being supported on the foundation wall 1.Thus the floor load is supported mainly by the concrete outer wallconstruction. Sub-flooring 3a and flooring 3b is supported by joists 3.Horizontally extending furring strips 3 are provided, which arepreferably 2" x 4'7, at vertically spaced intervals of 2 each, andthroughout the entire perimeter of the house. However, at the floorlevel, such as on the first floor level (and other floor levels) 2" x 6"strips 8a may be used to provide arr-adequate base against which thefloor trim may be nailed, and which strip may be bolted in place asshown. That is, the heads of /2" x 5" machine bolts, such as 10, areembedded in the concrete wall 2. Similarly the intermediate furringstrips 8 are bolted by /2 x 5" machine bolts with a washer at each end'and about half the length of which are embedded in the vertical concretewall 2. A 2" x 4 anchor strip 8b is also bolted to the top of the wall2, also having a washer at each end, and which are spaced at a maximumof about 3 apart to form an eifective supportfor the roof construction5.

It will be noted that spacer blocks 9, having central holes throughwhich the bolts pass, are provided at horizontally spaced intervals asshown more clearly in Figure 3 so as to provide about a 2%" air spacebetween the outer concrete wall 2 and the inner wall. The inner wall ismade up of plaster 6 formed on Rocklath or metal lath 7. Blocks 9 may beof any suitable dimension such as 6" x 3% x 1" in thickness. Bolts 10are spaced up to about 4' apart horizontally.

The entire inner surface of the concrete wall 2 is preferably coatedwith tar in the form of two layers, the first layer a prime coating, andthe second being painted on Ms thick. The spacer blocks each arepreferably creosoted before placing.

It will be seen from the construction described that air can freelycirculate horizontally between the horizontal studding or furring strips8. Also air can circulate freely in a vertical direction throughout theentire height of the wall, particularly by virtue of the spacingprovided between the horizontal furring strips 8 and the outer wall 2.This is a particularly important feature of our invention in that wehave found, after considerable experiments, that'the practice oftrapping air between the walls is wrong in theory and that it is farbetter to allow free circulation of the air laterally and verticallythroughout the entire perimeter and the entire height of the spacebetween walls so that hot air which tends to become entrapped during thesummer time between the inner and outer walls can be effectivelywithdrawn. Also cold air may be circulated to displace the hot air, orperhaps hot air may be circulated between the inner and outer wallsduring winter time.

A system for carrying this out is shown in Figure 4, wherein the space11 between the inner and outer walls is connected by ducts 12 to acentral heating and cooling system 13 of any well-known construction.Thus, in the summer time if the natural circulation of air isinsulficient for removing hot trapped air between the inner and outerwalls, the blower of unit 13 may circulate such air. If also desired,cold air from unit 13 may be introduced and circulated through a closedpath which includes the space between walls, the attic space and theunit 13. Of course, during the winter time Warm air I may be similarlycirculated between the inner and outer walls.

However, we havefound that an air conditioning unit 13 is not absolutelynecessary and that if the space 11 between inner and outer walls freelycommunicates with the attic and basement spaces, the natural circulationis suflicient to cause enough movement of the air so as to withdraw hottrapped air during the summer, particularly such as normally occurs inthe attic space, and replenishing it by the cooler air normally'found'inthe basement. This natural circulation is generally caused by an outsidebreeze introduced, for example, in the window of the attic space whichcauses movement sufiicient to allow the hot air, which normally rises,to fall instead, from the attic to the basement space.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided an efficient building wallconstruction which may be inexpensively and quickly assembled at thesite in a much shorter period than customary for conventionalconstructions and which comprises a combination of rein forced concreteouter wall and a wood framing with horizontal instead of verticalstudding, and by virtue of which considerably smaller overall length ofstudding is utilized, greatly reducing the cost of the wood studding;furthermore by providing integral ledges on the inner part of the outerwall this forms the main support for the floors and relieves thenecessity of excessively strong or closer spaced wood framing;furthermore we have provided spacing elements on the horizontalstuddingwhich allows a complete, unobstructed air envelope throughout the entireperimeter and entire height of the building, and which freelycommunicates with the attic and basemen spaces (unless an airconditioning unit is connected thereto as shown in Figure 4) so as topermit free circulation of air between the inner and outer walls andthus effectively insulate against summer heat and winter cold.

While we have illustrated and described an embodit ment of ourinvention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustrationonly, and that various changes and modifications may be made within thecontemplation of our invention and within the scope of the followingclaim.

We claim:

A building comprising inner and outer walls, the outer wall being ofcementitious material, furring strips between said inner and outer wallsextending only in a horizontal direction and being in vertically spaced,parallel relationship and spaced from said outer wall, spaced elementsdisposed alongside said furring strip between said outer Wall andstrips, providing a substantially unobstructed air envelope throughoutthe entire height and perimeter of the building, said building includingan attic space in communication with said envelope, and said outer wallincluding integral, horizontally spaced ledges directly supporting floorjoists and thus transferring loading to said outer wall, the ends ofsaid joists being spaced from said outer wall to allow horizontalmovement of air in said envelope.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 90,580Reily May 25, 1869 1,568,997 Blount Jan, 12, 1926 1,819,405 Brooks Aug.18, 1931 2,008,775 Staman July 23, 1935 2,107,523 Coe Feb. 8, 19382,181,814 Knapp Nov. 28, 1939 2,202,745 Muse May 28, 1940 2,208,589Leemhuis July 23, 1940 2,364,220 Johnson Dec. 5, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS136,877 Great Britain of 1919 713,103 France of 1931 995,738 France of1951

